I have several passions in life. Sports, politics, and specifically football, reign at the top of the list.

Light the Tower

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Hear Me Out: LSU Should Forfeit CCG

Get ready. Do you hear that? These are the rumblings from SEC country regarding the fact that LSU has punched their ticket to Atlanta, GA to face the Bulldogs from Athens for the Southeastern Conference Championship. On an even cuter note, they probably do not even need to win the game to advance to the "Mythical National Championship" game to be held in New Orleans on January 9th. Do you know what I would really like to see? Something that could and should occur. Due to the fact that LSU does not need to win the SEC to play for the MNC (go ahead and think about that for a minute), Les Miles and his LSU Tigers should forfeit the game to make a point. He has bigger fish to fry. Georgia has nothing to lose. What if the "Honey Badger" is injured? What if Jordan Jefferson loses his cool and get ejected and suspended for the next game? Why risk injury to one of the marquis starters for a game that has become meaningless? Did you catch that? The SEC Championship Game is virtually meaningless this year. That's right. LSU can lose this game and still punch their ticket to the Superdome this January to square off against the latest team "selected" to play for some apparent title. This is how jacked up the system has become. Bill Hancock's deal with the devil must be a damn good one...

It has become an anointing, a beauty contest, a subjective evaluation in which certain teams are held to one standard while others are held to another. Houston? You are not worthy, even though you beat Tulsa in the same fashion that Oklahoma did earlier in the season. That Tulsa team's only losses prior to UH were to OU, Oklahoma State and Boise State. Oklahoma State? You lost on the road in overtime to an "unworthy opponent." Never mind the fact that since replacing Steele Jantz, Iowa State is 3-1 and playing much better football. Forget about Any Given Sunday. I prefer Any Given Saturday when you are playing a game in conference and at times, out of conference: Remember these moments where the favorite stumbled?

Tulane upsets LSU in 1982

TCU goes to Norman and beats OU in 2005 as a member of MWC

Ole Miss defeats Florida 31-30 in 2008.

Navy beats Notre Dame 46-44 in triple OT in 2008

UCLA beats USC 13-9 in 2006 in a huge shocker

Miami (of Ohio) shocks LSU in Baton Rouge 21-12 in 1986

Jacksonville St. beats Ole Miss 49-48 in double OT in 2010

Louisiana Tech stuns Alabama 29-28 in 1999

Utah destroys Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl in 2008

James Madison stuns Virginia Tech 21-16 in 2010

Boston College takes out Notre Dame 41-39 in 1993

Kansas St. destroys OU 35-7 in 2003 Big 12 CCG

Colorado shocks Michigan on 70 yd. pass on final play of game to win 27-26 in 1994

Stanford shocks No. 1 USC as a 40 point underdog with backup, QB 24-23 in 2007

Appalachian St quiets the Big House and entire state of Michigan 34-32 in 2007

Iowa State shocks Oklahoma State 37-31 in OT in 2011

If we were to listen to conjecture and the average football expert on Twitter, none of the above winners had a chance. I mean, why even play those games, right? It was a foregone conclusion that none of the favorites could possibly lose. A mere impossibility, mind you. Similarly, just ask any Auburn Tiger fan if TCU would have had a chance at them last year and they will laugh at you. That is called SEC elitism and they sound foolish when they speak in such "factual dialogue." I would point to the above, abridged upset list and return the favor, laughing hysterically at them instead, highlighting the fact that you just do not know. The pompousness that consumes college football is what detracts from my favorite sport. These are not machines, but young men who are capable of screwing up and actually losing a game they are favored to win. Can you believe it? We simply finished last season one game too early. TCU deserved their chance to prove their worth. How dare some pathetic computer programs and a group of narcissistic graduate assistants head coaches try to tell me who is "worthy" of title consideration and who is not? When you end a season with #1 AND #2 undefeated, you have sincere problems.

Since LSU needn't bother showing up in Georgia, let's turn our attention to who they might face. The system is probably going to deliver Alabama and that is a complete travesty and slap in the face to fairness and equality to the college football landscape. Supporters of the sequel will point to a slim defeat in OT by Alabama and that they are clearly the #2 team in the nation. That might be true. However, there must be some common sense employed here. When you lose on your own turf to a conference foe and you are ineligible to play for your conference championship, you should not be eligible to play for a Mythical National Championship. If you have a one loss Big 12 champion in Oklahoma State, they should trump you. If you have a one loss ACC champion in Virginia Tech, they should trump you. If you have a one loss PAC 12 champion in Stanford, they should trump you. What's that? The SEC is harder than other conferences? Typically, I would agree. This year? Not so much. It is top heavy and then there is a massive drop off. After the top 3 teams, it is chock full of garbage. Vandy, Ole Miss, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Kentucky are deplorable. South Carolina and Georgia are above average. Arkansas is good, but not great. It is simply a down year for the SEC.

We are stuck in this quagmire because the cerebrally inept run the BCS. A few tweaks here and there would be better than the utter and complete disaster we going to be faced with this season. There are zero circumstances where I would consider a sequel a good MNC matchup under the BCS system. It is inherently wrong on every single level. I thought every game counted? That is the moniker of the BCS, right? Do you actually believe that load of dung? I sure don't. Lost in the shuffle of finding LSU's opponent is how unfair it is to ask LSU to beat Alabama a second time. Now, were they both to emerge from an 8 team playoff, I am in support of the sequel 100 percent. But, when we anoint only two teams via subjective reasoning and transitive properties, it becomes borderline criminal.

Is it unfortunate that Alabama and LSU are in the same division from the same conference? Sure it is. Look, not every team can play in the SEC. Football does exist outside of the hillbilly conference. Is the SEC on a good run? Absolutely. Will it last forever? Absolutely not. I for one am hoping that Auburn can join the list above and remove Alabama from consideration the old fashioned way: on the field. If they don't, we will have to rely on the coaches and computer geeks to do it. There are no mulligans in football. There are no second serves either. You get your one shot to beat that team and if you don't, you are out of the mix and destined for your just reward of some meaningless bowl game. Oh, and those of you who will point to the champions of other sports coming from Wild Card spots etc., they arose via a fair and just playoff system. In the world of BCS logic, the regular season is all that matters. Except when it doesn't.

3 comments:

perhaps there are some substantive repudiations to what might be deemed conjecturous, however the illuminating proclivity of discriminatory subjectivity is not only anti-kinetic, it's implausibly fatuous.. ROLL TIDE

If UT had not been so greedy and caused A&M to leave the conference, then OSU would have jumped Alabama if they had won a conference championship game and beaten OU. Without a CCG, OSU can't jump Alabama. The point gap is too large.

That is not entirely true. If LSU loses to GA, they will fall to no worse than #2. Conversely, we're the pokes to play one more game against KSU again, I don't see them closing the gap. I'm not a huge fan of the LHN. I'm also not a fan of aTm dishonesty over the past 12 months.